


honest

by cableknitstitch



Category: Naruto
Genre: Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:06:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27009310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cableknitstitch/pseuds/cableknitstitch
Summary: "It’s better if you don’t remember.""How can you say that?""I— I was joking," he says, and they both know it’s a bald-faced lie, but if he cares enough this one time to try it, then Naruto’s willing to narrow his eyes at him but let it slide."So why does everyone think that I’m gonna be the one to end the relationship and not you?" Naruto asks again, this time daring Sasuke to come up with a suitable answer.
Relationships: Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 3
Kudos: 99





	honest

Sasuke’s honest when he’s drunk. It’s not that he’s dishonest when he’s sober, but it’s one way that he and Naruto are similar— it’s not "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth", it’s lots of half-truths. Naruto can’t lie worth shit, and Sasuke has better things to do with his time. Naruto diverts and redirects the conversation, and Sasuke withholds and lets people’s assumptions fill in the blanks.

Naruto says as much out loud. "It’s probably why we work," because they can call each other out like no one else can.

Sasuke looks over at him, and it’s the closest thing he can get to startled when he’s so sleepy from all of the alcohol they’ve gone through in the past few hours.

"Not like that," Naruto says, flapping his hand admonishingly at Sasuke, "but, like, the way people say we work. It’s probably because you can tell when I’m back on my bullshit, and vice versa."

"Oh," Sasuke responds, unnecessarily, because Naruto’s already off on some other tangent, analyzing all of his relationships out loud because alcohol still doesn’t give him the one thing he never has sober, which is _chill_. He tunes him out for a moment, trying his best to process what he just said, and finds he can’t get past, "'We work'?"

"What?"

Sasuke lets his chair come back to rest on all four legs and hunches over the table, elbows banging down on the worn wood and narrowly avoiding his funny bone.

"We work?" he repeats, this time an actual question rather than a quote, and Naruto stares uncomprehendingly for a moment as Sasuke hears the gears turning over in his head.

"Ohhh, yeah, like Ino and Kiba are always saying things like, 'It’s like you’re made for each other,' and 'you’re like the same person,' and 'you’re two halves of a fucking idiot,'" Naruto frowns, "or maybe that’s just Kiba. But you know. All that and such."

"Naruto, you’re drunk," Sasuke says.

"Yes!" he exclaims, and punctuates it by finishing off the last mouthful of his lukewarm beer. Tosses the can in the general direction of the sink to be rinsed off later, and turns to look at Sasuke appraisingly. "Why won’t you break up with me?"

Sasuke blinks.

"I— what?"

"Why won’t you break up with me?" Naruto asks, and sprawls back in his chair, arm flung over the back of the seat the way Sasuke does when he sits next to him at The Mag, one hand on the table and one foot braced on the floor to tip the chair onto two legs.

"Context?"

"Sai said he asked you if you’d mind if I broke up with you," Naruto says. "Sakura says that I’m gonna break your heart. Gaara keeps asking if I’ve broken up with you yet."

"Okay," Sasuke says, when it’s clear that Naruto’s waiting for a response. "We’re not a very convincing couple?"

"No, it’s not that," he groans, fingers drumming up an anxious storm on the tabletop. "It’s— like— why does everyone think that I’m going to be the one to end this— whatever it is that they think we have right now?"

Sasuke’s too drunk for this— or not drunk enough— because he responds immediately and knows in the same breath that he shouldn’t—

"I can’t quit you."

Naruto’s confused enough that his hand slips on the table and he comes clattering down to all four chair legs, much less gracefully than Sasuke did a few minutes— hours?— before.

"What kinda AA bullshit is that?" he says, wrinkling his nose, and Sasuke has to laugh, rake a nervous hand through his hair and take another swig to get through this.

"I can’t— I can’t quit you," he says again, gesturing vaguely with the bottle in his hand. "Somewhere along the way I think I actually started to like you."

"That’s a shitty situation," Naruto says. "Why would you do that to yourself?"

"I don’t know. I guess I wasn’t being careful."

"I—" Naruto cuts off mid-vowel. "God, I feel like a jackass. You know I’m drunk enough to not remember this tomorrow?"

"That’s okay," Sasuke says, too quickly, and feels Naruto’s eyebrows raising because he’s too— too— too _something_ to actually look at his face.

"That’s not fair," he says, "if you’re gonna fuckin’— like, confess to me, then I should at least have the courtesy to remember it. What kinda shitty fake-boyfriend am I otherwise, if I can’t even—"

He’s spiraling into the familiar, easy patterns of self-loathing, and Sasuke still knows better than to let him get that far, even if he doesn’t know enough to keep his mouth shut.

"It’s better if you don’t remember."

"How can you say that?"

"I— I was joking," he says, and they both know it’s a bald-faced lie, but if he cares enough this one time to try it, then Naruto’s willing to narrow his eyes at him but let it slide.

"So why does everyone think that I’m gonna be the one to end the relationship and not you?" Naruto asks again, this time daring Sasuke to come up with a suitable answer.

He’s more prepared for it, this time, and gets up in the middle of his answer to pour himself a glass of water. "Because I’m a narcissistic asshole—"

"True."

"— and it’ll shatter my ego and that’s what everyone really wants."

"I’ll toast to that," Naruto snickers, and they do. Sasuke knocks back the cold water and shivers as it shocks him awake for a moment before the sleepiness comes rushing back all at once. "Sai’s gonna propose to his girlfriend soon."

"I assume you told him it’s a bad idea?"

"Who would I be if I didn’t?" Naruto sighs, and it’s like most of the world has shifted itself back into place.

Sasuke heaves himself up on the counter and sits for a moment, just looks at Naruto, his black civvies, the orange-and-black jacket and the tight mesh underneath. His hair curls around his face, golden under the warm kitchen light, and his nails are bitten short, an unconscious habit when deep in thought.

"Like what you see?"

"I think that’s illegal. You’re what, like, twelve? Should I even be letting you drink that?"

Naruto rolls his eyes. "Jerk."

"Loser."

Yeah. He does.


End file.
